This is an appeal for Suvannavira's work for the Dharma in his native Russia.

PLEASE SEE MY NEW APPEAL FOR 2014 HERE:

http://www.justgiving.com/Suvannavira-2014

Suvannavira says: “In the time of the Buddha, those who were committed full-time to the practice and teaching of the Dharma -the Bhikkhus- would obtain material support by asking for alms every day in the nearby villages.

In keeping with the spirit of this tradition, I would like to ask you for material support to allow me to devote my energies as fully as I can to practising and teaching the Dharma here in Moscow. Teaching the Dharma includes making it available by overseeing the translation and publication of Dharma books, and developing websites and general web presence, as well as taking actual classes.

My material support mainly comprises of food and accommodation, various fees and some travel costs. It comes to about £6,000 per annum, or £500 each month. Standing orders that guarantee a regular income are the most helpful, but any donation, large or small, will be much appreciated. Details of setting up a standing order are available by contacting me personally”.

Whether or not you are able to help, thank you for reading this, and if you would like to know more about the appeal in 2012 or the Russia Project, and maybe look at our Russian language web-site, you can read more below.

 

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THE APPEAL IN 2012

The appeal in 2012 targeted raising funds for Suvannavira to rent a room or an apartment where small meditation classes and Dharma study groups could be held, as well as giving him somewhere to live other than a hostel where he could be sharing a room with up to four other people.

Suvannavira continues:

“THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO ALL WHO CONTRIBUTED!

The response was very generous and the appeal reached its target. But since I have started to think in terms of creating a small Buddhist community in a shared living space, and others are not yet ready to move in, for the moment I am still in the hostel”.

 

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RUSSIA PROJECT

Order members have been visiting Russia since the days of Glasnost, even before the fall of the Soviet Union. Visitors have included Kamalasila, Nagabodhi, Sarvamitra, Nagadakini, Saddhaloka and Suvannavira.

Saddhaloka has continued to make occasional visits to St Petersburg over the last ten years or so, and has also visited Odessa in the Ukraine, where we have three Mitras. Out of contacts made through Saddhaloka's early visits, a translation and publication project was initiated.

Suvannavira began living in Moscow in 2009, and started regular Dharma activities early in 2011 at 'Otkrytiy Mir' (in English 'Open World'), a Centre dedicated to spiritual development, where we hire rooms on Wednesdays and Sundays. In Moscow we now also have a Mitra.

Eight books have now been published in Russia; “The Guide to the Buddhist Path“, “Vision and Transformation”, “Who is the Buddha?”, “What is the Dharma?”, “What is the Sangha?”, all by Sangharakshita; Kamalasila’s “Meditation: the Buddhist way of tranquility and insight”, Vajragupta's “the Triratna Story” and Saddhaloka's own “Encounters with Enlightenment”.

Most of these books can be seen and bought at:

http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/sangharakshita_in_russian

and we also have an excellent Russian language web-site at:

http://buddhayana.ru

which includes the texts of all of the published books; as well we the first year of the new Mitra Study Course, Pujas, readings, articles, a dozen of Bhante’s poems, and paintings of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas by Western Order Members like Aloka and Chintamani.

Sangharakshita's “The Ten Pillars of Buddhism” is currently being translated and there are plans to publish most of the Mitra Study course.